Luke Hrovat-Staedter was 12 years old when Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts opened in 2004. “At that point I was just happy that Wicked was coming to town, that it was bringing some big acts,” he says.
Hrovat-Staedter now teaches choir at Madison’s East High School, and he takes full advantage of Overture’s OnStage field trip program, which he says is a great resource for teachers. The field trips help students expand their horizons and interact with new concepts outside of a school setting, Hrovat-Staedter says.
“You get to see other things. You’re exposed to something outside of your world,” he says. “I really think it can be kind of revolutionary to get out of your space and see, like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is what’s happening. This is a performer.’ In a fun way, because field trips are fun.”
Hrovat-Staedter has also taken his students to Overture to perform. Before the COVID pandemic, East’s former show choir, Encore, opened for the Wisconsin Singers’ annual fall showcase in the Capitol Theater. And Hrovat-Staedter once took an upperclassman treble choir to Overture to sing for an event.
“I think those types of opportunities, especially for high school students, to kind of level up and see themselves in those spaces is really important,” he says.
Youth programming has been perhaps a more quiet but important focus of the Overture Center, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The facility, funded in large part through cumulative donations totaling $205 million from Madison philanthropist Jerome Frautschi, has transformed the local arts community, providing a home to such resident companies as Forward Theater Company and Madison Symphony Orchestra, and hosting traveling Broadway shows and other world-class entertainment.
Last year, the OnStage field trips program drew 168 schools with some 18,000 students from around the state to see live shows at Overture, according to Shari Gasper, a spokesperson for Overture. Tickets are around $10 per student, depending on the performance, and tickets are subsidized through contributions from individuals and institutions.
Many of the performances are created specifically for student field trips. There are reenactments of children’s books, and educational performances on natural and historical phenomena as part of the National Geographic Live series. Resident companies, including Madison Ballet and Madison Opera, also offer matinee programs for student field trips.
Emily Gruenewald, chief development and communications officer at Overture, acknowledges that subsidizing these programs is an expensive proposition, but says that donor support for the programs is strong.
The OnStage program is one that the center knows will run at a deficit, she says. “And then that’s where our annual fund really comes into play. So if something like, say, Kids in the Rotunda has a lot of support, we can direct more funds to OnStage. We as an organization are committed to our education and engagement work, so it’s not just about the dollars.”
Kids in the Rotunda, one of the center’s most popular programs for youth, dates to 1980, when the Madison Civic Center hosted it in its lobby space. Originally called Kids in the Crossroads, it is a free concert series for young children.
The new season kicks off Saturday, Oct. 5, with a performance by Black Star Drum Line. There are five shows in October, including Halloween performances by Monkey Business Institute on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
One of the most important programs hosted by Overture for youth performers is The Jerry Awards. Named for Jerry Frautschi and formerly called the Tommy Awards, it started in 2009 as a competition for high school musical theater groups.
Tim Sauers, chief artistic experiences officer at Overture, says that the awards program has grown to include more and more schools — 98 schools have participated from around Wisconsin since the Jerrys began.
Sauers says the Jerrys give Wisconsin students experience performing onstage and an opportunity to pursue a career in musical theater. The program now sends two students to New York City each year to compete in the Jimmy Awards, a national competition for high school musical theater artists.
“It’s an opportunity for these students to connect with their peers nationally,” Sauers says. “And they’re now scouting there, and kids are being cast in some Broadway shows and tours and television.”
Sauers says one notable example of a Jerrys participant who made it to a Broadway show is Beloit native Kolten Bell, who recently toured with Disney’s Aladdin.
Overture also recruits for two performance groups featuring vocalists from participating high schools. These Jerry ensembles perform at various Overture functions, and around their communities.
Sauers says the feedback and experience students get by competing in the Jerrys has improved the quality of theater productions in participating schools. But more than anything, competitors have fun at the Jerrys.
“The environment in there is the craziest you’ll ever find. It is so cool to see these kids, how they support each other on stage,” he says. “They’re striving to be on that stage.”
Since 2019 Overture has also partnered with the Disney Theatrical Group on its Disney Musicals in Schools program. Children in participating schools from grades 3-5 learn how to put on and act in a Disney musical. The program at Overture recently expanded to include middle-school children.
On May 7, students from five Madison-area schools — Hawthorne, Nuestro Mundo, Henderson and Mendota elementary schools and Leopold Community School — performed songs from a variety of Disney productions on the Capitol Theater stage.
“Participation in the musical productions opens a world of possibility for our students,” Mendota teacher Kathy Barry Chamberlain said in a testimonial on the Overture website. “The cast and crew members discover talents and responsibilities that they weren’t aware of, and they consistently grow in unexpected ways, as individuals and as a team.”
